Securing the Plant Floor

Recent headlines such as “Is Your Factory Data Safe?” and “Can’t Happen at Your Site?” point to a growing focus on the need for plant-floor security. This isn’t just “crying wolf” but rather a reality check on the current state of affairs, with printed magazines reflecting what control system managers already see firsthand: The factory floor is ripe for security disasters, and anyone with a computer poses a threat. The challenge we have as manufacturers is in knowing what to protect and how to protect it. In many cases, companies need to protect the systems that provide value to the business, but we need to apply protection in proportion to the risk and value.